Abbott government and Labor reach deal on metadata retention laws

A public interest advocate will be created and will be able to argue against police access to a journalist's metadata for the purpose of identifying their sources, under a deal struck between Labor and the Abbott government.

The division in the House on the metadata bills, with Andrew Wilkie, Adam Bandt, and Cathy McGowan opposing. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

This means media companies will be left in the dark over whether or not their journalists' metadata is being accessed but allows for a warrant application to be tested in court.

The public interest advocate will be based on Queensland's Public Interest Monitor. A judge will have to weigh up whether the disclosure of the journalist's source outweighs the public interest in protecting source confidentiality.

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The amendment was passed in the lower house shortly after the deal was made public and the bill was passed just before question time on Thusday. The entire bill, which will ask telcos to keep customer records for two years from 2017, is all but set to be passed by the Senate with the Coalition and Labor commanding an overwhelming majority in the upper house when they agree on legislation.

Police would only need warrants when wanting to access a journalist's source but would not require the same permission if they suspected a person of being the source and wanted to look up their metadata. No warrant would be required for an ordinary citizen.

Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the public interest advocate as a "very important protection" for journalists.

"There is nothing in the bill therefore that should concern journalists about their right to do their job, their duty to do their job and to deal confidentially with their sources," he said the House of Representatives.

"All of us understand that the work that journalists do is just as important in our democracy as the work that we do as legislators."

Labor has forced the government to provide extra protections for journalists. The opposition believes the public interest advocate will address fears the warrant process for accessing a journalist's metadata will simply be a "tick and flick process".

The Coalition believes they aren't necessary but is agreeing to the demands because it wants its third phase of counter-terror laws passed through Parliament by the end of next week.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said it was frustrating that the negotiations, which began on Monday, took so long to conclude.

"It's even more frustrating that the government still refuses to acknowledge that the stronger protections today needed to occur," he said.

Currently, up to 80 organisations can request permission to access the logs of an internet user or mobile phone customer without a warrant.

Under the proposed laws, the number of authorities able to access metadata would be reduced to 20 crime-fighting agencies but would include the Australian Tax Office, the corporate regulator and competition watchdog.

Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm said he would support extra protections under the new metadata laws but opposes what he describes as increased government "snooping".

"But I have to say the whole idea is bad in principle," he said, arguing the legislation treats all citizens as potential terrorists or paedophiles or "criminals in waiting".